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'Mario Kart 8' Looks Fantastic, Now Nintendo Just Needs To Market The Game

Will the beloved kart racer inspire potential consumers to take their eyes off of the shiny PS4 and Xbox One and take a second look at what Nintendo has to offer?

It’s possible, though a great deal hinges on how Nintendo advertises the game.

Everything we’ve seen so far of Mario Kart 8 looks fantastic. It’s hard to look at the popping colors and enormously detailed tracks without being impressed. This is every bit as next-gen-looking as the games we’ve seen so far on the latest SonySony and MicrosoftMicrosoft systems.

Despite the Wii U’s sluggish sales, I continue to believe that Nintendo has a strong system on their hands.

Still, quality system or no, Nintendo still faces major obstacles with the Wii U.

First off, there weren’t any big system-selling titles out at launch. This, I would argue, is something all three new consoles lacked. But it hurt the Wii U more than the others because the Wii U never commanded the hype and fervor that the PS4/Xbox One race picked up.

Second, Nintendo did a poor job marketing their new system. Even the name—Wii U—is confusing to consumers. Brand recognition, or the lack thereof, is a serious problem.

And finally, the system has been written off as last-gen and underpowered compared to the competition.

The first problem is largely not a problem anymore. The Wii U has more exclusives than either the PS4 or the Xbox One, and its 2014 lineup is strong, including Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros, X, and Bayonetta 2.

The Wii U’s reputation as a weaker system than the competition will be a tricky hurdle, but games like Super Mario 3D World, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Mario Kart 8 illustrate just how amazing Nintendo franchises can be in HD. People are taking notice.

The second problem—the bad marketing and lack of brand recognition—is the true obstacle, and the true test Nintendo faces in reviving the system.

How can Nintendo market the Wii U now that it’s over a year old? How can they get consumers excited again? From personal experience, one of the biggest issues facing the Wii U is that a lot of people still don’t realize it’s a new console, separate from the Wii.

Games like Mario Kart 8 make the Wii U a more compelling purchase, cheaper than its rivals with more exclusive content.

But Nintendo needs to do more than just build excellent video games. They need a huge marketing push; they need the Wii U to become as recognizable as its predecessor, and distinct from that predecessor at the same time. (This is why I think “Super Wii” would have been a much better name than “Wii U.” It sets it apart and above the Wii.)

Mario Kart 8 does provide Nintendo, once again, with an opportunity to really market their system. The game is gorgeous, far and away the best-looking Mario Kart game ever made, and quite possibly the best-looking game on the Wii U so far. Previews from press outlets have been enormously positive.

Jose Otero at IGN, says that the “core racing experience at the heart of Mario Kart 8 isn’t only intact; it’s better than ever. And it benefits from a steadfast approach to carefully preserving old ideas while blazing a trail forward with new ones.”

And CVG’s Chris Scullion notes: “If ever there was a single game that could turn around the Wii U’s fortunes and change its story from that of a GameCube-type disappointment to a 3DS-style revival, it’s Mario Kart 8.”

A smart marketing campaign leading up to the game’s May 30th release date might just help tip the scales in Nintendo’s favor.

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Personally, I’m not so sure the “underpowered” objection is so easily swept away but yes, Mario Kart 8 does look good.

What about third parties though? There are a lot of 3rd party games not coming to WiiU and that is a major problem. My biggest gripe with Wii wasn’t the exclusive games it had, those were uniformly good. It was the fact that there weren’t enough of them and that in exchange I was missing out on A LOT of great games that were going to 360 and PS3 but not Wii. WiiU looks set up to be a repeat. Look, I love Zelda, I really do. I just can only afford one console and I’d rather buy a console that gives me a large library of quality games rather then the console that will give me some great experiences, every once in a while. That’s my take on the console. Until 3rd party support shows up, or until I become wealthy enough to buy two consoles, WiiU won’t be for me.

One of the bus drivers was intent on picking up a “Wii”, and for a time I observed the exchange among these everyday people and none of them seemed to know what a Wii U was to the Wii. Was it the new one? Was it the old one? Was it something else entirely? I chimed in and set the issue straight, but the brand confusion appears to be a common issue and really their arrogance is to blame, they wanted the association with a top selling console but naturally Nintendo refuses to number their consoles out of pride, and so the confusion emerges. The real issue with every single Ninty console since the N64 is purely one of first party titles, they need those to sell the platform, and they need more new ones to really drive up sales, Nintendo took a positive first step with Bayonetta 2, now they need to do that in succession until they have a backbone of major titles they personally procure.

I swear, every time I hear someone spout word like “marketing!” in relation to videogames it reminds me of someone repeatedly saying something from a word-of-the-day calendar like it’ll make them sound smarter. This obsession over Nintendo’s marketing is…odd, to say the least. I just don’t get why people willingly repeat the same thing about one of the most BORING and least intellectually stimulating things you can think of. Dear god, it’s not THAT slow of a news day